238 lines
7.4 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
238 lines
7.4 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
journalists
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diana-henry
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7714510
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# Asparagus recipes: spears of the realm
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## Diana Henry celebrates the start of the English asparagus season.
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![Asparagus, quail's eggs, broad beans and parma ham with saffron mayonnaise-
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Asparagus recipes][1]
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Asparagus, quail's eggs, broad beans and parma ham with saffron mayonnaise
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Photo: KATE WHITAKER
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By Diana Henry 7:00AM BST 16 May 2010
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It was such a long, hard winter this year I'm embracing the arrival of English
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asparagus with even greater joy than usual. I got fed up juggling the same old
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ingredients, and my children were begging me to stop cooking purple sprouting
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broccoli. It's lovely to experience that delicate asparagus flavour again; it
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is reminiscent of nettles and gooseberries, though in truth nothing really
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compares to it. For the first few weeks you don't want anything more than big
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platefuls of the stuff with a warm bath of melted butter; after that it can
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join its favourite bed-fellows. There are eggs - you can serve a fried or
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poached one on top of chunky spears with vinaigrette and shavings of pecorino.
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I just made a lovely lunch for a friend of a boiled egg with asparagus spears
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and smoked-salmon toasts alongside - very cute. And let's not forget
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hollandaise; I know it isn't good for you (you only have to dip your finger
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into it and your hips start to widen), but the asparagus season only comes
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once a year. Ham, bacon, salmon, veal and cheese (especially pecorino or
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goat's) are all lovely with it, too. I am a big fan of the _plat compose_ when
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it comes to summer eating. A plate that offers asparagus alongside some of its
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best co-stars is a delightful thing to eat; it looks like a painting (you get
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a real kick out of putting the colours together) and suggests we are in the
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season of plenty.
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There is still some anxiety about cooking asparagus. I was sitting with a big
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bag of it on the bus the other day and the girl beside me confided that she
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had ended up with a panful of 'sludge' when she cooked it the night before.
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But there is no mystery. Take each spear and try to feel where it breaks
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naturally around the base, then snap it off. This way you lose the woody base
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at exactly the right point on each spear. If the skin seems woody at the base
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too, you can finely peel the area. Now steam or boil until tender; it takes
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three to five minutes, depending on the thickness of your spears. You want
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asparagus that is just tender (if you boil the spears lay them out on kitchen
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paper afterwards so the tips can drain properly).
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I wasn't going to have asparagus again tonight (I've had it every night this
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week), but writing this has put me in the mood. There is a ball of shortcrust
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pastry in the fridge and I think I may just have a use for it. A tart of
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asparagus spears in a gently set custard with chunks of goat's cheese? That
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will do nicely…
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## Related Articles
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* [Asparagus, quail's eggs, broad beans and parma ham with saffron
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mayonnaise][2]
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16 May 2010
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* [Asparagus mimosa][3]
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16 May 2010
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* [Asparagus crostini with ricotta, pecorino and basil][4]
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16 May 2010
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[X][5] Share & bookmark
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][6]
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* Share: [Share][5] [ ][7] [ ][8]
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[Tweet][9]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/diana-henry/7714510/Asparagus-recipes-
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spears-of-the-realm.html
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Telegraph
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## [Diana Henry][10]
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* ### [Stella Magazine »][11]
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* ### [Food and Drink »][12]
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* ### [Recipes »][13]
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In journalists
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### [Cook Simple][20]
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[X][5] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][6]
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Share:
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* [ ][5]
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* [ ][7]
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* [ ][8]
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* [Tweet][9]
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* Advertisement
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![][21]
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Advertisement
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[The Telegraph on Facebook »][22]
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Like Telegraph.co.uk on Facebook
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[EDITOR'S CHOICE »][23]
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### [Gil Scott-Heron: 'A voice for Shakespeare'][24]
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[![Gil Scott-Heron][25]][24]
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Composer, musician, poet and author whose writing provided a vivid commentary
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on the black American experience.
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### [The Telegraph's Matt is Hay Festival star][29]
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